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The word grey clearly shows the color of pebbles. The same goes for dusty which shows the condition of gravel. This study assumes that Carol Ann Duffy uses visual
imagery in these words in order to create mental images to the readers, in order to strengthen the image of “invisible” things.
4.1.1.2 Olfactory Imagery
The writer sees olfactory imageries in the second stanza below. The words breath soured, stank are words containing an olfactory imagery which explains the
smell of something. It clearly explains that the smell of the breath is stinky and sour
My bride’s breath soured, stank in the grey bags of my lungs.
I’m foul mouthed now, foul tongued, yellow fanged.
There are bullet tears in my eyes.
Are you terrified? Stanza 2, line 6-11
In addition, olfactory imagery can be seen in the following stanza And here you come
with a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue
and your girls, your girls.
Wasn’t I beautiful?
Wasn’t I fragrant and young? Stanza 7, line 36-40
The word fragrant is also considered as an olfactory imagery, which explains a smell of something; the smell of fragrant body comes from a young and beautiful body, as
the speaker mentions herself.
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4.1.1.3 Kinesthetic Imagery
The following stanza contains kinesthetic imageries A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy
grew
in my mind, which turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes
as though my thoughts hissed and spat on my scalp. Stanza 1, line 1-5
Both words grew and spat show the movement of an object. Those are the movement of the speaker’s negative emotions, which actually do not move. Therefore, the writer
depicts it as something that can be moved using the word grew. The word spat is an actual movement of a snake, the behavior of spitting poison into its enemy.
I glanced at a buzzing bee, a dull grey pebbly fell
to the ground.
I glanced at a singing bird, a handful of dusty gravel
spattered down. Stanza 4, line 18-23
In the fourth stanza above, the word fell and spattered are actual movements, which is an unintentional movement of a thing. The word fell means a movement from a
higher to a lower level, without control, while the word spattered means scatter or splash usually used for liquid, mud, etc. over a surface. Therefore, it is definitely
clear that kinesthetic imagery is used by the poet in the stanza.
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In the following fifth stanza, there are three kinesthetic imageries. I looked at a ginger cat,
A housebrick shattered a bowl of milk.
I looked at a snuffling pig, a boulder rolled
in a heap of shit. Stanza 5, line 24-29
This study considers the use of kinesthetic imagery within the word snuffling and rolled. Both are actual movements of something. Snuffling is the act of sniffing
something, which is commonly known as movement for a pig. Rolled is a movement of something rising and falling gently in a particular direction by turning over and
over. It is the movement of the boulder in the stanza
I stared in the mirror. Love gone bad
showed me a Gorgon. I stared at a dragon.
Fire spewed from the mouth of a mountain. Stanza 6, line 30-35
In the sixth stanza above, there is a kinesthetic imagery, which is the word spewed. Fire cannot move by itself, but the speaker says that it is spewed from the mouth of a
mountain. Spew is a movement of something rapid and forceful in a stream. From the analysis above, this study assumes that these imageries are used by
Carol Ann Duffy in order to give a terrifying effect to what the speaker feels about the symptoms of jealousy. Therefore, one can conclude that the raged and blinded
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acts from female suffering from jealousy are things that actually really terrible and
powerful.
4.1.2 Metaphor
